37x94R grenade - ID-help needed

[URG86-collector]

Hello everybody,

today I was tasked to examine this nice piece, which was passed to me as an unidentified object.
First things first: The whole grenade is entirely free of explosives. Even the firing cap, which appears to be undamaged from the outside, was emptied from the inside.



It's been a while since I was taught on the subject of pre WW II ammunition, but:
In my view and in terms of dimensions, we do have a grenade caliber 37x94R (Hotchkiss-type?). The projectile (hollow) should be HE perhaps with some sort of tracer. The fuze seems to be a simple impact type (the interior is missing). It looks to me as if case, projectile and fuzematch together, but I’m not sure.
Further details:
#on the fuze: (sorry, the photos are not optimal): L * 3 * 03 and a symbol that could be an anchor.
#no crimp marks on the case
#driving bands seem to hint at a French origin, but no additional markings or lettering on the projectile

A brief search found a lot of 37mm cartridges; British, French, German, Russian etc. (special thanks to Gspragge). But no picture of especially case markings that I have seen fits to this exemplar. Now I am naturally curious whether to learn more about this grenade with the help of the impressive knowledge gathered in this forum. Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks in advance and best regards from Germany.

 

[Slick]

Thumbed thru my Mellichamp book. Agree with your assumption of French origin. If that is the case (see what I did there?) the case/shell was crafted in 1893. Lot #2. At the Rochfort Naval Arsenal. I gleaned from the book that the circles represent it has been reloaded. I did not see anything referencing the circled diamond, but the "O" looks the same font as the empty "O", so. . . I don't know. The fuze is French. And Naval.
Thanks for making me find my "A GUN FOR ALL NATIONS" book.

 

[URG86-collector]

Thanks a lot for all that research. I'm very happy with your results. And that's an interesting hint to that book.
In case :tinysmile_grin_t: I need help again, i will not hesitate to ask.

Thanks again for that quick answer !

 

[Gspragge]

Model 1888 common shell, the diamond inside the reload mark may mean full charge, I will check. The case is uncommon by that maker, (I don't have one), the projectile is wartime but the fuze appears to be 1903 ;03 before anchor which is interesting and hard to find. The wartime projectiles are often badly marked, but you might find a faint bomb proof and anchor mark on it, poorly stamped.

 

[URG86-collector]

Even more fascinating details, thanks a lot !! As I understand, the projectile is the 'youngest' part of this ensemble ?

I had a closer look at the projectile and found two possible markings (unfortunately no anchor). As noticeable as the first is (an inspectors mark?),
so weak is the second. It looks like a round ball with an 'M' on top. Could this one be a proof mark ?



And by the way: Is that small cone at the base of the projectile really some sort of tracer?
There is not by chance a drawing available ?:tinysmile_shy_t:

Thanks again and best regards from germany.

 

[highlandotter]

the cone is the remains of the casting sprue,with the centering dimple for the lathe center for machining.

 

[Gspragge]

Could well be the bomb proof mark, they made millions so marking them was kind of hit and miss.

As explained to me a long time ago about French dates; the date is the date of the contract for the object (fuze, case or projectile) and you have the lot
number of the object within that contract. So a date of 12 16 doesn't mean the object was made on that date, but it would have been some what later,
even of course into the next year.

 

[URG86-collector]

the cone is the remains of the casting sprue,with the centering dimple for the lathe center for machining.

Thus a mechanical leftover and no functional part of the grenade. Great to know !

 

[URG86-collector]

Could well be the bomb proof mark, they made millions so marking them was kind of hit and miss.

As explained to me a long time ago about French dates; the date is the date of the contract for the object (fuze, case or projectile) and you have the lot
number of the object within that contract. So a date of 12 16 doesn't mean the object was made on that date, but it would have been some what later,
even of course into the next year.

Rather unconventional way considering the fact, that the idea of stamping is, to trace back an object to its origin (place, date manufacturer). I wonder if French manufacturer keep on doing this in our days. :tinysmile_eyebrow_t

 

[Gspragge]

Evolution of the Mle 1888 common shell

Evolution of the Mle 1888 common shell just for fun ~
As long as you have a lot number present with a date recall is easy, the actual day of manufacture doesn't really matter.

 

[URG86-collector]

Really great !!!

I definitely love this sort of optical timelines :biggrin: